Paille scores 2, Marchand adds another in Bruins 5-3 win over Detroit

CP

BOSTON - Boston coach Claude Julien believes his team showed what it can do when it's pushed into a tough spot. That added desire helped them come through a two-day test with consecutive victories.

Daniel Paille scored twice, including once short-handed, and Brad Marchand also had a short-handed goal to lift the Bruins to a 5-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday, less than 24 hours after an emotional comeback victory.

"Yeah, it does," Julien said. "I think I'm sensing, when we say some urgency, I guess since we've turned the page on trades and all that stuff, it's: 'This is our group here and this is what we're going to go with.' They seem really close-knit and determined at the same time. I see a real strong focus right now."

Playing a day after rallying for the victory over Philadelphia on Saturday, the Bruins jumped to a 4-1 lead before hanging on in the third.

"We were expecting they were going to come with a push there," said Boston backup goalie Niklas Svedberg, who made 15 of his 36 saves in the final period.

"I think we stood up good," he said. "It was a big win for us."

Boston, clinging to the Eastern Conference's eighth and final playoff spot, improved to 5-1-1 in its last seven games.

"Hopefully we can gain some momentum off the last couple of wins," defenceman Dennis Seidenberg said.

David Pastrnak and Loui Eriksson each had a power-play goal for Boston. Bruins top goalie Tuukka Rask got the day off after playing 21 of 22 games.

Luke Glendening, Gustav Nyquist and Marek Zidlicky scored for the Red Wings, who have two straight regulation losses for the first time this season.

"Sloppy from the beginning, too many turnovers from our side in the first period," Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg said. "I think in the second period we played good, we created a lot of good chances, unfortunately they scored the goals."

Detroit defenceman Stephen Weiss had the puck stolen from him twice, leading to both short-handed goals. Jonas Gustavsson stopped 19 shots before being lifted for Jimmy Howard after two periods.

Coach Mike Babcock told reporters after the game that Gustavsson was hurt and Petr Mrazek will likely be recalled from the AHL.

"He got hurt," he said. "I don't have a clue when he got hurt."

Rookie Pastrnak put the Bruins ahead 2-1 midway into the first when he slipped a wrister past Gustavsson from a tough angle, deep near the left faceoff circle.

Paille's short-handed goal made it 3-1 at 11:44 of the second. He intercepted Weiss' pass at the blue line, beat two Red Wings' players down the middle of the ice and slipped a wrister into the net.

His other goal increased the lead to 4-1 with 1:21 to play in the second.

"We do it to ourselves. We've got to be better mentally. We can't give them those kind of chances, not against a team like this," Zetterberg said. "It's self-inflicted, but we just have to move on."

Marchand scored his third straight goal for Boston in less than 24 hours, making it 1-0 just 4:15 into the game. With Reilly Smith off for slashing, he stole the puck from Weiss, skated in on a clean breakaway and drew Gustavsson out of position before tucking a forehand shot into the net.

The 5-foot-9 winger tipped in the tying goal with 14.1 seconds left in regulation of Saturday's 3-2 overtime win over the Flyers. He then won it with a backhander late in OT.

Detroit tied it 1-1 when Nyquist slipped a wrister past Svedberg's glove from the slot 7:01 into the first.

Svedberg made a pair of key stops early in the second — diving out to poke the puck away from Erik Cole, who was skated in alone. He also flashed his right pad to rob Justin Abdelkader about 45 seconds later.

Glendening and Zidlicky sandwiched goals around Eriksson's in the third.

NOTES: It was the 10th meeting of the Smith brothers — Reilly (Boston) and Brendan (Detroit). Brendan owns a 5-4-1 edge. ... The game was televised nationally. During his morning press briefing, Julien said that the team tried to get the time changed back to the original night starting time with the Bruins having to play an afternoon game Saturday. ... Detroit entered with the league's top-ranked power play. ... The Red Wings were coming off a 5-2 home loss to Calgary on Friday.